Community rallies for Bobby Bleisch

Parents, students and community members participate in a rally for Bobby Bleisch, a Castle Park Middle School principal who was reassigned last month following accusations by teachers alleging misbehavior and a subsequent district investigation.

/ Daniel Muñoz

Parents, students and community members participate in a rally for Bobby Bleisch, a Castle Park Middle School principal who was reassigned last month following accusations by teachers alleging misbehavior and a subsequent district investigation.

Parents, students and community members participate in a rally for Bobby Bleisch, a Castle Park Middle School principal who was reassigned last month following accusations by teachers alleging misbehavior and a subsequent district investigation. (/ Daniel Muñoz)

The transfer of a middle school principal who was reassigned to the planning department pending a district investigation hasn’t been well received by a group of parents, teachers and students who want him back.

Supporters of Bobby Bleisch gathered last Wednesday ﻿at the Sweetwater Union High School District to rally for him.

Bleisch, who was the principal at Castle Park Middle School, was reassigned last month after the district opened an investigation following accusations of misbehavior on campus.

While specific allegations have not been made public, a teacher told the school board last month that she was speaking on behalf of staff members too frightened to address the board and described the atmosphere at Castle Park Middle as a hostile work environment.

However, other teachers are among those who support Bleisch. A Facebook page called “Bring Back Bleisch” was created Feb. 21 and has more than 550 likes.

“He came into Castle Park (middle) with a vision and in two and half years has transformed it to an amazing school,” said Daniel Frank, a 13-year teacher at Castle Park Middle School.

Frank, who attended the rally, said the reassignment has been a distraction.

“Parents are worried about how the school runs without a principal,” he said.

He said Bleisch implemented a tutoring and retesting program on Saturdays, which had never been done before and became very successful.

“It’s giving students a second and third chance,” Frank said. “‘Failure is not an option at this school anymore’ he said at his first assembly.”

Cynthia Espinosa has a sophomore in high school whose life she said was turned around by Bleisch while attending Castle Park Middle.

Espinosa said her daughter struggled in seventh grade and didn’t have support from teachers. When she reached eighth grade Espinosa said she complained to Bobby Bleisch.

“The first impression I have of Bobby Bleisch is that he was humble and welcoming and gave parents the peace of mind they need,” she said.

Ultimately Espinosa said Bleisch inspired her daughter to believe in education and herself, raising her GPA from 1.7 to 3.7.

“If it wasn’t for him to open that door to education I think my daughter would have been lost,” Espinosa said. “He’s a man of action. If he’s not there everything’s going to fall apart.”

Katalina and Eric Chappel also have a daughter who attended the middle school while Bleisch was principal.

“I see what was he was doing at the school as positive,” Katalina Chappel said. “The education and environment is different.”

She said what she appreciates most about Bleisch is that he would listen to concerns and respond to them.

“In other situations, I could not get a hold of others or deal with them,” she said. “I’m hoping that he gets to go back to Castle Park Middle because the parents, students and community love him. The ones that don’t are afraid of change.”

Lisa Burgess is a resource teacher with the district and has been with the district since 2002.

“I have always been able to work with principals and administrators and found them easy to work with,” she said. “So when I’m having trouble with somebody it’s not because I’m resisting change. I had a problem because what he (Bleisch) was doing wasn’t best for students in my opinion.”

Burgess was reassigned from Castle Park Middle in August 2012.

“I asked that the communication problems be addressed because I couldn’t do my job while he was at the school,” she said. “The miscommunication caused a difficult and hostile work environment.”

Burgess said his decisions are irrational and arbitrary.

“Meetings were canceled with no notice or delayed for hours,” she said. “I was told specifically I couldn’t work with certain teachers.”

Burgess said she is being questioned as part of the investigation to substantiate claims during the 2011-12 fiscal year, along with teachers from several sites and that accusations go back to his time at Granger Junior High.

The school’s assistant principal, Gina Galvez-Mallari, has taken over in the interim and an outside attorney is investigating the matter.